Work Text:
Of Taking Care and Toeing the Line
The message was terse: more a guttural, growled command to come to him. In a certain mood, Doc would have either drug his feet and made the Revenant wait for him to be good and ready to make an appearance or straight up just ignored the summons altogether. However, the faint echo of pain he picks up in the other's voice is what makes Doc's decision for him very easily.
Today was clearly a bad day.
There is no cocky remark when he lets himself into the trailer from either himself or the occupant. He crosses to the bedroom and feels something tighten unpleasantly in him at the sight of the other shirtless on his bed revenant-mark inflamed and his fingers digging into the sheets as his breathing comes in pained gasps.
Doc hates these days most of all. Moving swiftly, he grabs the familiar jar of ointment and settles himself next to the other. He wants to talk, to try and help but he refrains because he knows the rebuke that will follow. So he bites his tongue as he opens the jar before starting to massage the substance into Bobo's skin.
His reward is the other's calming breathing and the loosened hold on his bedsheets the more Doc works. The silence is heavy between them holding so much that was being avoided. As if that would stop the inevitable...but Doc would wait until this stubborn demon realized that all on his own that not saying things didn't mean they weren't clearly implied.
Denial was something Bobo Del Rey made an art of.
Finally, Doc feels the other go limp and pliant in relief. "Lock the door on your way out," comes the low command as he's replacing the lid. It hurts, the abrupt dismissal, but he had expected it nevertheless. No matter how many times he wished for a chance to remain, Bobo would not take his presence longer than it took to get him what he wanted. Doc is sure that, too, is a defense mechanism.
He sets the jar back in the drawer before gazing at the other who is watching him almost challenging him even as his eyes flutter more than stay open. He's never defied the "rules" of their partnership before and Doc is sure Bobo expects to be left alone once again.
So, it's with clear deliberation that he reaches up and takes off his hat while holding the other's gaze before reaching down and removing his boots. "What do you think..."
"I think that it is an ungodly hour of the morning for a man to be up," he interrupts before working off his shirt and his pants leaving himself in his boxers, "And as such, I'm reclaiming some sleep." With that said and without giving either of the a chance to react or him to reconsider this idea; Doc makes himself comfortable on the bed beside the other in the space between Bobo and the wall.
There is a sharp sound from the revenant; something ruffled or startled, it was very hard to tell with him, before would come, "If you so much as snore, Holliday, I'm throwing you out to the others dressed as you currently are."
He might have a witty comeback if not for the fact that this was new and very dangerous territory. He'd never been allowed to stay in the other's bed like this and does not want to mess it up for future occasions where the other might allow it. It was clearly an intimacy that made the other nervous to allow though he'd be the last person to voice Bobo Del Rey as being afraid of anything especially in earshot of the Revenant.
So, he merely closes his eyes and settles himself for a bit more sleep. He's just not expecting when Bobo shifts onto his side back to him and scoots until he's pressed against him. The heat of his skin is high but not unbearably so; a familiar heat he felt only when they were having sex. Slowly and so, so carefully: he curls an arm around him testing the water to see. Bobo makes a soft sound but it seems more tired and pleased then hostile so Doc leaves it there and slowly drifts off with the realization that he was in fact spooning the other.
Somehow, he's sure they won't talk about this yet, either.